Norwich Ice Rink is running $197K deficit

The Norwich Ice Rink lost more than $142,000 in combined revenue and expenses after a Feb. 13 ammonia leak, City Accountant Anthony Madeira said Tuesday — the main contributor to a nearly $200,000 deficit now being carried by the facility.

The Norwich Ice Rink lost more than $142,000 in combined revenue and expenses after a Feb. 13 ammonia leak, City Accountant Anthony Madeira said Tuesday — the main contributor to a nearly $200,000 deficit now being carried by the facility.

Despite a $197,179 year-to-date shortfall, the Ice Rink Authority is targeting the new fiscal year beginning July 1 as a turnaround season, telling the City Council Monday night it’s projecting a $15,400 profit by June 30, 2014.

“For this year, it was a major setback from where they were,” Madeira said of the mid-winter failure of a chiller that forced the rink to close for a month. It reopened on March 13.

The figures provided by Madeira on the total economic impact caused by the incident was much higher than numbers initially presented by the ice rink authority, which pegged total losses at about $72,000.

Authority members said the complex is primed for success, with savings across departments combined with a planned overhaul of how the facility is run.

“We have really high expectations and anticipate new energy in the upcoming year, based on a restructuring of rink management,” authority vice-chairwoman Cheryl Ritacco told aldermen during a late night budget workshop.

Since opening in 1995, the rink has never turned a profit, but was on track to do so before the chiller malfunction. As of Dec. 31, it had a net profit of $22,494, compared to a $70,165 deficit at the same time in the previous year.

Council members were sharply divided on their opinion about whether the city should continue to subsidize the rink. City Manager Alan Bergren is recommending an end to a $27,000 annual transfer to the facility’s general fund from city coffers.

To date, the rink is $328,296 in debt to the city.

“The issue people are having is that it’s not even breaking even, that agreement made way back when the rink was built are not being met. We’ve got an obligation to right the ship, and it’s been 17 years,” Alderman Charlie Jaskiewicz said.

He said the rink “is not a necessary need.”

“It’s an add-on, but we cannot ask taxpayers to support something that’s not making a profit,” he said.

Alderman Mark Bettencourt said he wants to see better financial planning from the rink, and blamed its struggles partly on years of inaction by city leaders.

“The problems that have existed there have not only been a product of the rink and who’s been there before, but those of us up here. There’s a lot of blame to go around on this,” he said. “It’s a regional asset that we don’t get a lot of credit for financially.”

Page 2 of 2 - City Council President and authority chairman Peter Desaulniers said rink officials are staying true to an August goal to create a 15 percent revenue buffer to address capital needs and start repaying the city for its years of loans.

“We’re not supposed to be out there to make a fortune. It’s a recreation facility,” he said. “Everything that we are able to do over and above the expense is kept by the city, and we’re paying down that debt. It took us years to build it, and it’s going to take time to pay it down, but it will be paid.”